Antares A-ONE mission was the first launch of Orbital
Science's' new Antares medium-class space launch vehicle. It was
launched on 21 April 2013 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport
at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

Antares Rocket First Flight

The test flight was the first launch from the pad at Wallops and
was the first flight of Antares, which delivered the equivalent
mass of a spacecraft, a so-called mass simulated payload, into
Earth's orbit.

The aim of the A-ONE mission was to demonstrate the operational Antares launch
system, from roll-out of the rocket from its integration facility, through
emplacement on the pad and fueling, to launch and delivery a simulated
payload to a target orbit of 250 km x 300 km with an inclination of 51.6
degrees.

The launch was made from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at NASA's
Wallops Flight Facility. The A-ONE launch was broadcast on NASA TV.

Payloads

The main payload was the Cygnus Mass Simulator (CMS). It had a a mass of 3,800
kg (8,400 pounds) with a height of 5,061 mm (199.25 inches) and a diameter of
2,900 mm (114 inches).

The secondary payloads were four CubeSats that were deployed from the CMS: Three
PhoneSats, built by NASA's Ames Research Center. Dove-1, built by Cosmogia Inc
carried a 'technology development Earth imagery experiment' using the Earth's
magnetic field for attitude control.

Orbital Sciences launches its Antares rocket at
5:00 pm EDT from the new Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A
at the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Following this launch, Orbital will carry out a full flight
demonstration of its new Antares/Cygnus cargo delivery system to
the International Space Station (ISS) around mid-year 2013.

Antares A-ONE Rocket Near Beach

Did you know?

* This is the first of three launches of the new rocket scheduled for 2013.

Following this launch, Orbital will carry out a full flight
demonstration of its new Antares/Cygnus cargo delivery system to
the International Space Station (ISS) around September 2013. In
addition, the company is also scheduled to launch the first of
eight operational cargo resupply missions to the ISS in late 2013
under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA.

*
Facts / Info:1.
Antares Rocket is an expendable launch system being developed by
Orbital Sciences Corporation.
2. Antares was known in early development as Taurus II,
3. The first stage uses RP-1 (kerosene) and liquid oxygen (LOX) as
propellants, powering two NK-33-derived engines.
4. The second stage is a solid, the Castor 30, developed by ATK as a
derivative of the Castor 120 solid stage.
5. Height 40.5 m (133 ft), Diameter 3.9 m (12.8 ft).